SpaceX Starship

Hold T-40 sec for weather.

 

Weather scrub. Damnit.

 

No launch..... for weather

 

I watched the pre-launch show that featured Elon. They had a segment where they showed installation of a newly fabricated adaptor ring that allowed using launch platform for static tests. This was in response to the severe damage to the static test site from Ship explosion. I was thinking last night, what other rocket developer would/could have adapted and recovered so quickly from major infrastructure damage? NASA, ULA, etc. would have taken many months/years to sort out the problem. I think it's Elon's personality good/bad/crazy that allows Space X people to take risks like this. Certainly the downside was that they could have blown up launch infrastructure. I guess the results speak for themself...Space X 500 orbital boosters recovered, rest of World 0; Space X 95% of mass put into orbit last year, etc.

 

Try again tonight 7:30 EDT.

 

If SpaceX wants to put 1000 ships a year into orbit, they're going to have to get over their fear of clouds .

 

Listening to Elon over the past year re:rapid turn around on launches, needed to meet the 1000 launch goal; the greatest uncertainty is related to the re-entry heat shielding. My impression is, of all of the technical issues to still be resolved, Elon is most uncertain that the heat shield is doable.

 

I looked at the weather radar at the time of the intended launch and rain showers were west of the pad. But if you put the "future" radar in motion, all the rain would be gone a half hour later. I'm aware that "future" radar is an educated guess, but how short was the launch window that they couldn't wait half an hour?

 

Booster hover was higher up than I expected, but made for a big BOOM! water landing.

 

Starlink dummy satellites successfully deployed from Starship.

 

And the door closed! First time!

 

Interesting comment that when actual Starlink Ship deployment begins, each flight will equal 20 Falcon nine flights. Read recently that cost of Falcon 9 delivery to LEO is about $2,500 per kilo. Starship cargo delivery estimated to be $200 per kilo, possibly $20.00.

Cost goal for latest Euro rocket in development is $10,000 per kilo to LEO.

 

So….. Success?

All objectives complete. No “loss of vehicle”

 

Starship still in re-entry. COPV(?) exploded in engine area , flaps burning up.

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They're deliberately stressing the ship and flaps and such. Flaps are toasty but ship is still in control. Looks good.

 

Impressive!

 

Full success!

 

Controlled splashdown.

 

Landed damned near on top of the camera buoy. Perfect.

 

A nice summary of the flight:

 

Commentary is a bit dry but good info and great video:

 

Looks FAKE! .... Must be AI
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Why didn't it show it blow up after splashdown? Seems like every clip intentionally stopped it before that. 4 min mark: